Microsofts blockchain project Bletchley offers services to access off chain data

Infura.io is a service that runs a node on the Ethereum blockchain and interacts with the network. While this service has been criticised for introducing centralisation to a decentralised environment, for our purposes it is ideal. Middleware solutions allow applications to be developed without the need of having to create custom integrations whenever you want to communicate between different or foreign application components². To do this, they allow applications to connect by utilising messaging frameworks such as REST, JSON or XML to name a few.

Blockchain Will Disrupt Enterprises; Middleware is Key for Success

These contracts contain a set of rules and conditions that define the terms of the agreement between parties involved in the supply chain, such as suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, and customers. Despite the enormous potential of smart contracts, they have an underlying limitation—blockchains are inherently disconnected from the outside world. As a result, smart contracts are unable to interact with data and systems external to their native blockchains, akin to a computer without an Internet connection. Referred to as “the oracle problem,” this limitation severely inhibits most types of smart contract use cases from being developed. Blockchain is nothing new, but the combination of several existing technologies enables disruption. Blockchain goes way beyond financial transactions and will become relevant in various industries.

Use cases of blockchain oracles

Smart contracts are primed to become the dominant form of digital agreement because they enable more efficiency with less counterparty risk. In addition, UDAP Universal Decentralized Asset Platform in our Hackathon project the laptops of the frontend users were also used for mining to produce new Ether (which is needed to “pay” for blockchain transactions, in this case voting). This is another “bad practice” due to our hardware limitations – and another good reason to use a BaaS service to have explicit mining nodes. Middleware can be leveraged to reduce and solve these challenges as it is build for connecting different systems with various technologies, standards and communication protocols. One example of a blockchain middleware platform is Omnitude, the British tech firm has partnered with multi-vendor e-commerce platform CS-Cart to build single identity capabilities into the retail experience using blockchain.

Nansen.ai currently tracks over 90 million labeled Ethereum wallets and their activities⁴. Middleware is a type of software that provides a common service or method of communication between two or more applications within a distributed network. It simplifies the process of trying to connect applications which weren’t designed to communicate with one another in turn helping streamline app development and reducing the time a product is brought to market¹. Automating existing multi-party workflows using data-driven hybrid smart contracts. On the other hand, based on the fat protocol theory, we believe that the middleware protocol can not only absorb the value of network security from the base layer infrastructure but also creating value for many Dapps just like what the HTTP does in Web 2.0. 2) Comparing with on-chain protocols with off-chain services, we can see more clearly that many on-chain protocols show composability, especially in Ethereum’s open financial ecosystem.

This python library gives you much more simple functionality with the Ethereum blockchain. Refer to the official documentation for more information⁹, however this standard sets a minimum level of functionality for complying tokens. Oracle networks must be decentralised in order not to nullify the benefits of the blockchain⁶. Conducting verifiably fair giveaways and promotions to reward loyal consumers and increase engagement with marketing campaigns.

There seems to be a missing middle layer for 1) resolving reputation and identities, 2) applications that attract more institutions, 3) more retail users and developers. There needs to be an interface layer to combat these inconveniences, akin to the datalink and network layer in an Open Systems Interconnnection (OSI) model. Among the available tools, Hyperledger FireFly stands out as the best enterprise blockchain middleware.

Firstly, the interoperability protocols such as Polkadot and Cosmos enables State and Value to be interoperable on different blockchain platforms. Projects in the middleware stack are not limited to a single blockchain anymore, it can capture great value from different compatible blockchains in the future, and this is similar as a local company expands its market share in different areas. When a middleware project has its popularity, brand reputation, and user base, it can be a great competitive advantage to grow network effects in new markets. The financial-service middleware is a bridge that transmits the security value of the base layer native token such as ETH to the interface layer. The main function of the NaaS in the crypto network is to provide developers with cloud-based nodes for development and production solutions. Hence NaaS can save the developers’ effort to operate the nodes and they do not worry about the system management of the basic operating system and node software, such as patches and updates.

Chainlink: Secure Blockchain Middleware for Enterprises

Our current technology stack consists of two thin transformation services and one storage service. The first transformation service harvests data off the data sources and translates the data (normalizing, indexing, associating, etc) into data we store in a general purpose relational DBMS. The second transformation service prepares that data for the particular application. Polkascan should be seen as a flexible blockchain middleware service between any (blockchain) data source and any (blockchain) application, as illustrated in Figure 2.

Right now, the only tools developers have to track the activity of their smart contracts are public explorers. If they want to track the activity of all the smart contracts within their application, they need to build their own tool, or make dedicated queries for each smart contract. With Polis’s transaction manager, all the transactions for an application can be checked in the same place, even if it comprises several smart contracts. By leveraging blockchain technology, middleware platforms facilitate secure and efficient communication between different participants in the supply chain network. Transactions and data exchanges are securely recorded on the blockchain, ensuring that information is shared accurately and reliably.

Decentralized finance applications (DeFi apps) can use inbound oracles to obtain prices of assets and tangible public goods for their application use-cases. Compute-enabled oracles are mostly used by Layer2 solutions like ZK Rollups (zero- knowledge rollups) to gather data off-chain (before submitting on-chain) and are one of the features that distinguish ZK Rollups from Optimistic rollups. Hardware oracles are helpful for supply chain, weather, and other physical, real-world scenarios.

Etherisc built a common, decentralized insurance application platform that allows developers to quickly develop new insurance products. Etherisc’s core team has developed some common insurance infrastructure, product templates that allow anyone to create their insurance products. It now covers everything from flight delay insurance to hurricane insurance to encrypted wallets and mortgage insurance. The mining pool under PoW connects the physical mining machine to the address of a blockchain mining pool and then operating large-scale mining.